21apples

Shifting Our Practice

Posted by arvind s grover Wed, 14 Nov 2007 03:15:26 GMT

For over a decade, NYSAIS has run the amazing Conference for IT Managers and Librarians. This will be my sixth time attending. Each of the past 5 years, I’ve been pushed. My understanding, my knowledge, my teaching – it’s all been pushed to a level higher than when I arrived. I joined the conference planning team at the end of last year, and it was then where the idea of an unconference arose. Why would we change something that works so well? “Well” not solely being my interpretation – but the people who come year after year are a testament to it.

So why change? That’s what technology is about, the definition even. It’s about advancement. When something better is possible, you build it. You buy it. But most importantly, you use it. Unconferences change the paradigm of a conference. It’s about the people who are there to attend, not the people who are there to present. This year, there are no workshops on the schedule. No speakers, no sessions, no tracks. Just open spaces, where a facilitator will organize into groups where we can learn and teach from each other. Is it risky? No. It’s been done before many a time, so no real reason to fear. People still will, but that’s not good. We need to be risk-takers are we want our students to be. Calculated risk tasking as adults so that we can bring better education to our students.

Some of the most positive comments we receive are about the exchanges people have in the hallways and over the lunch table. This unconference is about making those conversations the entire 3 days. Let people share their practice and learn from each other.

note: This blog post is a bit hokey – I’m not particularly worried about that though, because I feel like it’s truthful. Oh how these conferences/unconferences get the best of us!

Technorati Tags: 21apples, change, education, future, NYCIST, NYSAIS, NEIT2007, school change, schools

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MySpace Sued By 4 Families Of Abused Children

Posted by arvind s grover Sat, 20 Jan 2007 03:04:09 GMT

Four families with young daughters who were abused, molested or raped by someone they met on MySpace have filed suits against News Corporation (who owns MySpace). These are tragic examples of the real dangers that online communication tools can facilitate. Having had hours of discussions with parents, students, administrators and colleagues about the dangers of social networking sites, these stories make the dangers startlingly real.

Trying to think about this in a balanced way, I wonder how fair it is to hold MySpace responsible for these young women meeting these awful men. Yes, they used MySpace. But didn’t they also use computers, web browsers, phones, cars, the subway, public places like restaurants, parks and more to meet? Are they all to blame? Is this the same as overweight people suing McDonald’s? It is very difficult to understand who is at fault here. Who is liable? In the end does it actually matter, these girls have already suffered, and there is no recovery. On a forum on Slashdot someone suggested the parents be charged with negligence. Is there really anyone to blame other than the criminals?

Most often I tell families that the dangers are real. They must deal with that. It is however much more rare than one might realize. The overwhelming majority of perpetrators of sexual violence against children are victims’ parents. Read this great article highlighting the data from the National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It’s also important to note that 79% of reported online abuse occurred at home.

The question is, “Are we going to take a “zero risk” approach to using technology and the tools of the Web?”

We don’t take a “zero risk” approach with our sports programs where the chance of injury, paralysis, and, in rare cases, death, is always present. We don’t take that approach with field trips where students travel to museums and historical sites in locations where they might be touched by crime. We don’t take that approach with recess on our playgrounds, or transporting our kids to and from school.

We can never eliminate all risk; but there are ways to maximize our students’ safety while using these incredibly powerful tools. Each tool needs to be analyzed individually to ascertain its benefits and the specific risks it might present. From there, thoughtful people can find solutions to the student safety issues that may arise.

As educational leaders we need to be safety conscious. We need to be prudent, reasonable; but we won’t live in fear and we won’t act from fear.

It is by opening doors, not closing them that we create new possibilities for our children and new futures for ourselves.

Would love to hear your thoughts, and how your school or home is responding to the sensational media coverage.

p.s. In other conspiracy theories, doesn’t network television have a vested interest in having parents be afraid of the Internet? It keeps the kids watching TV instead of YouTube when the parents take away the computer. I know that one is way out there, but had to toss it in the mix.

Technorati Tags: article, MySpace, net generation, news, NYCIST, online, parents, safety, social networking, students

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Happy New Year!

Posted by arvind s grover Thu, 11 Jan 2007 01:04:15 GMT

Happy new year to all. I had a wonderful time traveling through Spain and Morocco and my christmas present took some unbelievable photos (evidence below). I have been learning so much about photography from the Digital Photography School blog and the Photojojo blog. Never thought I could learn so much about photography by reading blogs. Will my online professional development ever end? Let’s hope not.

This week has been busy with Winterim, a one-week period where teachers get to try out experimental courses with students. I am teaching Internet radio broadcasting to twelve 8th graders. They have put on two great shows and tomorrow is their final show. They are on live at 12:30pm EST (17:30 GMT) tomorrow January 11, 2007. Tune in to the chatroom and channel 1 at Webcast Academy.

I’ll get back to blogging soon. 2007, here we go…

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Technorati Tags: 8th Grade, Canon, digital photography, Digital Rebel XTI, Flickr, Morocco, online, professional development, Photojojo, radio, Spain, webcast, Webcast Academy

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Programmer Uses MySpace To Bust Child Molesters

Posted by arvind s grover Mon, 16 Oct 2006 23:43:01 GMT

A benevolent programmer at Wired Magazine used his skills to create a script that crawled through the MySpace user directory looking for registered sex offenders who are using the site. Guess what he found? Over 744 sex offenders, over 400 of which were registered child sex offenders using their real names on MySpace. His search technique was only good enough to locate people using their real names who identified their zip code within 5 miles of their real address. They could have beat his system by using a fake name, fake picture or fake zip code. Not very hard to do.

There is real danger with these sites. Criminals are using these sites for their own malevolent purposes. In the article, the author argues that MySpace is still a good thing for kids, but warns:

It’s all up to MySpace. We can’t count on parental supervision; howmany teenagers looking for a space to hang out in with friends will accept one occupied by parents? We can’t count on peer policing; nobody reported Lubrano for his inappropriate comments.

We definitely can’t count on teenage street-smarts. Swagger isn’t judgment. Young Jacob is a smart guy, but even after he politely rebuked Lubrano for hitting on him, he made plans to meet the man at a Pennsylvania amusement park.

His argument is one for technical solutions, perhaps influenced by his own “success” of finding predators electronically. However, there are much bigger questions to be answered here: what kind of men are we raising who could do things like this? What kind of situations are we exposing our children to if they are able to go meet strangers in real time? What kind of decision-making are we teaching if our children can’t understand these risks?

I am an educator and have always believed that education is the answer. However, just educating children on social-networking is not enough. We must also be educating on how the media portrays men and women, how our own biases impart patriarchal views of women and how all of this is contributing to the violent world to which they are constantly exposed.

Technorati Tags: article, children, education, educators, Internet, legal, MySpace, online, safety, school, schools, social networking, teaching, technology, youth

Posted in media, net generation, news, safety, teaching | 2 comments | 1 trackback

MySpace or Their Space?

Posted by arvind s grover Sat, 07 Oct 2006 01:16:07 GMT

MySpace is such a clever name for a website. People think of it as theirs. Our students often get into that argument with teachers and parents. “Why are you in our stuff? It is not for you it is our space.” According to latest study, over half of the people on MySpace are over 35 years old and only 30% are under 25. Teens make up just 12% of the MySpace members.

Does that make it uncool for kids? Probably not, but it might make other sites like Facebook and Bebo more appealing. That is until the adults come in and ruin everything. Is there a space where adults and younger people can live harmoniously? I wonder if there is a way to create that space relatively safely. I just think schools need to be organizing the online social network to provide some kind of insulation while giving students the social contact that they so obviously crave.

Technorati Tags: AP, article, Associated Press, Bebo, Facebook, MySpace, parents, safety, school, schools, social networking, students, teachers, teens

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Club Penguin - MySpace For Your 8 Year Old

Posted by arvind s grover Thu, 28 Sep 2006 02:53:23 GMT

Business Week continues its observant coverage of social networking sites and young people with MySpace For The Sandlot Set (see my earlier post on their MySpace article). This article however is not about MySpace. It is about Club Penguin a MySpace-esque social networking site for 8-12 year olds. Yes you read correctly – 8-12 year olds. In August Club Penguin reported 2.1 million visitors.

Basic access to the site is free, but they sell memberships which give you access to advanced features (jee, do you think your 10 year old will want that?). When you sign up, you can choose 8 and under, 9-12, 13-17 and 18 and over. If you choose to sign up as an adult you get this message:

You also have to agree to a set of rules:

They mention that the entire website is moderated by their staff. It is amazing to me that people are willing to take such risks setting up a site where young people could be vulnerable. I would rather see groups who are interested in getting kids online to work with schools and teachers to create spaces where classes could safely and effectively connect with other classrooms around the world. These sites unfortunately just seem like market-research tools. What do 8-12 years olds like? Once we find out, let’s sell it to them.

Groups in the process of making a profit while “helping” young people put themselves in a challenging ethical situation. They are for-profit groups who as a mission want to help kids. I wonder if those two goals often find themselves in direct or partial opposition. Anyone think they can hold on to their ideals while still trying to land a profit?

On a side note: when I asked my 5th grade class at the beginning of the year to introduce themselves along with something they love to do on the computer at least half of them said Club Penguin.

Technorati Tags: Business Week, Club Penguin, education, MySpace, children, social networking, students

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